Born and raised in Cape Town and with a Stellenbosch University degree behind her
name, the songstress Rivkah Hope has become somewhat of a gypsy. Whilst living out
of suitcases in places like New York, Poland and Italy, Rivkah is carving her identity as
songwriter, singer and performer. I caught up with her while she’s back home in SA for
a quick visit, to chat about her life abroad and her latest single.
“It has been almost two years since I left South Africa to venture into the world and
explore cultures, countries and opportunities,” says the self-assured 20-something
beauty. Rivkah was involved in creating music from a young age. She started playing
the violin at the tender age of seven and later taught herself to play the piano and guitar.
Throughout her childhood, she performed as a solo violinist in orchestras and at
classical concerts and music festivals across South Africa. It was only in her teens that
Rivkah decided to explore singing, when she auditioned for the high school choir at
Rhenish Girls' High. While studying, she was also a member internationally renowned
University of Stellenbosch Choir.
After graduating in 2013, Rivkah decided to venture into a solo singing career. In
February 2013, she released her first nine-track pop/folk album. Since, she has been
developing as a song-writer and has worked with producers across the world on song-
writing projects.
Her journey abroad started in Long Island, New York where she worked as a songwriter
and singer with sensational hip hop/rap group Nice and iLL in April 2015. “I then
moved on to work with the Italian electronic producer and DJ, Alessandro La Cava, in
Milan, Italy,” she says. Although Rivkah's song-writing style changed a lot from her
beginning days as a pop/folk artist in South Africa, she remains grounded in her detailed
and out-of-the-box song-writing style.
In September 2015, Rivkah moved to Poland after being invited by award-winning
Polish producer (of band Pectus) and guitarist, Martin Polak, to perform there. In the
three months that Rivkah lived in Poland, she worked with a number of producers, DJs
and record labels, including DJ Eliot, DJ Vintage Wagon, Slavko the Violinist, TOS
Records, Natz and Nie Ma Ziewania.
Most of the music which Rivkah worked on in Europe is to be released at the start of the
European summer this year.
MORE ABOUT THE NEW SINGLE:
“In April 2015, I found myself catching a bus at 3am from Syracuse (upstate New York)
to Long Island. The mission was to record a song with the sensational hip hop/rap
group, Nice and iLL. I had found their music online and fell instantly in love with their
whole vibe. It was fresh, solid, feel-good, and hot! I had the burning desire to work with
them while I was in the United States. So I stalked and messaged them on every social
media platform and finally got a response,” she laughs.
Rivkah arrived at Long Island's train station early on a Friday morning and was
welcomed by Chris (one of the guys from the group) bursting her song, ‘Heart Of Steel’,
out of his car speakers. “We immediately hit it off and he showed me around the town. It
didn't take much time for me, Chris, Jay and Joey to get along.”
Rivkah played them the song she had in mind to work on, and they immediately started
building the sounds. Jay made the beat while Joey and Chris added other sounds. They
each then recorded their parts and she recorded hers. “Within 5 hours we had written,
recorded and arranged a radio-ready song. I have never worked so quickly on a song
before! These guys are absolutely incredible,” she relishes.
Take a listen to ‘Back To The Basics’:
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